andrew lloyd webber school of rock

[lennygoran]

This almost got posted to the classical music section but not quite-webber uses queen of the night at least twice! We were in NYC for a luncheon with friends and decided last minute to go to a play-most theaters are closed monday but school of rock was available-quite entertaining! Len

[jbuck919]

I'm not the only one here who detests Andrew Lloyd Webber. Chalkie calls him "Lord Ugly." (His father, BTW, Lloyd Webber, was a famous organist.) He is largely responsible for turning the whole business of musicals in the rock/pop direction. He has a formula, in which each of his musicals has one ballad piece that is famous, while the rest is crap. Because I was led to it, I saw live performances of Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jesus Christ Superstar (at Eisenhower Hall, the second largest auditorium on the East Coast). I don't exactly regret it. In the first case, you have to give high school students credit for the level of talent they exhibit. In the second, I was shocked that the ushers were USMA cadets. My thought was that students at the United States Military Academy had no business serving in that capacity.

Changing the subject slightly, the level of talent that high school students can exhibit is quite amazing. I've been in tears myself over the performances of students at the school where I taught in Maryland. I assure you that nothing in the following is beyond belief, including the hired orchestra.

[lennygoran]

John he may have a formula but it works for Sue and myself-we've seen phantom of the opera twice now over the years and really enjoyed it. This schoolof rock was quite imaginative and the kids energy was just a pleasure to watch. Len

[jbuck919]

John he may have a formula but it works for Sue and myself-we've seen phantom of the opera twice now over the years and really enjoyed it. This schoolof rock was quite imaginative and the kids energy was just a pleasure to watch. Len

I saw the movie version of Phantom when I was in Germany, and I thought it would never end. (Webber added something like 45 minutes of extra music for it.) It also has only one memorable number, "That's all I ask of you," which I once actually played for a wedding (with two great singers, I must say). Perhaps "The music of the night" would be an exception. Also in Germany, the music teacher was all enthusiastic about going to London over break to see The Lady in White. She played an excerpt of the piece where the tenor holds a note for something like a minute, but I was unimpressed. As with opera, a musical cannot be better than its music, and tricks don't make up the difference.

[lennygoran]

John, another webber winner for us-Evita! Len